Afternoon summary

The Presidents Club, the organisation that organised the charity dinner where female staff were reportedly sexually harassed, has announced that it is closing down as a result of the scandal. (See 5.19pm.)

David Cameron, the former prime minister, has said Brexit is a “mistake, not a disaster”. (See 4.29pm.)

Davis was being questioned by Rees-Mogg at a Brexit committee hearing. My colleague Martin Belam has a good article listing 12 awkward moments for Davis from the session.

Twelve awkward moments from David Davis's Brexit committee appearance

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Tony Blair, the former prime minister, has said the government is heading for a “hotch-potch” Brexit deal amounting to “leaving without leaving” which will not be acceptable to voters. This could make it easier to argue for staying in the EU, he said. Speaking to Bloomberg TV, he said:

There is nothing that would make me change my mind in thinking that [Brexit] is a regressive move for the country. But I think the country would proceed with Brexit if the government succeeded in bringing forward a deal that retained the benefits of our single market membership without the obligations. It is just that I think that is an impossible thing to negotiate.

Will the public really shift in its position once it sees the deal the government is bringing forward? We don’t know.

But if the deal is the one I suspect, which will be a hotch-potch where the government tries to stay close to Europe and ‘leave without leaving’, I think it is going to be very difficult to persuade the British people that that is better than what we have now.

He also floated the idea that Labour could eventually end up opposing Brexit altogether.

The Labour party feels - for reasons I understand - that it’s got to say ‘We are still in favour of Brexit’. But when you see how the Labour party is moving, it is moving very much towards a ‘let’s keep the single market’ position.

It nuances that in what it says, but I think in the end there is a majority within the Labour party for keeping a close relationship with Europe.

I think the moment you get to that position, it’s a very short distance to the next position, which is to say ‘let’s not give up our seat at the decision-making table but still be the passive recipient of European rules’.

The government is to provide an additional £4m in funding for Greater Manchester to cover the costs of responding to last year’s terror attack on the Manchester Arena, the Press Association reports. Prime Minister Theresa May said the extra cash would cover all NHS acute care costs as well as the costs of the North West Ambulance Service. Downing Street said it brought total government support to more than £24m following the bombing last May at an Ariana Grande concert which left 22 dead.

Presidents Club being disbanded after charity dinner sexual harassment scandal

Here is the Presidents Club statement in full.

The trustees have decided that the Presidents Club will not host any further fundraising events. Remaining funds will be distributed in an efficient manner to children’s charities and it will then be closed

BREAK: “The trustees have decided that the #PresidentsClub will not host any further fundraising events. Remaining funds will be distributed in an efficient manner to children’s charities and it will then be closed.’

The prime minister still has full confidence in Nadhim Zahawi, her junior education minister, we have been told. Asked at the regular media briefing if this was the case, May’s deputy spokesman replied simply: “Yes”.

Overall, it seems No10 are very keen to give the idea that the matter is closed and we should stop asking about the Presidents Club event.

May has not spoken to Zahawi about his attendance, the spokesman said, and was “not aware of any plans” for her to do so. Asked if any other ministers had been to earlier such events, he said, again, he was not aware of any.

It does seem, however, that May is not overly impressed with the general idea of male-only events. Asked about this the spokesman said: “The prime minister is uncomfortable about this event, including that element of it.”

David Cameron says Brexit is 'a mistake, not a disaster'

5News has released some footage of the former prime minister David Cameron talking about Brexit. He was talking to Lakshmi Mittal, the steel tycoon and he said.

It’s frustrating. As I keep saying, it’s a mistake, not a disaster. It’s turned out less badly than we first thought. But it’s still going to be difficult.

Cameron’s rather even-handed take on the biggest catastrophe of his career (he lost his job because of the vote to leave the EU) will probably annoy people on both sides of the Brexit argument. The Brexiters think people should accept their view that Brexit represents a splendid opportunity. And hardcore remainers think that Brexit will be a disaster and that, if it has so far turned out less badly than predicted, that is only because it has not actually happened yet.

5News (@5_News)

The man who called the EU referendum says what he really thinks about Brexit...

The Bank of England has issued a statement about the Presidents Club story. According to the FT report, tea with the governor, Mark Carney, was one of the lots in the charity auction. The bank says Carney is “deeply dismayed” that a dinner of this kind took place and that it had not agreed to offer a prize. What seems to have happened is that a tour of the bank offered as a prize for the Lord Mayor’s appeal charity auction had been passed on without the bank’s permission.

This is from the BBC’s Mark Broad.

Mark Broad (@markabroad)

Mark Carney is not happy that tea with him was offered at the #PresidentsClub event

With the odds stacked against a deal soon that would lead to the restoration of the devolved parliament in Northern Ireland and the return of power sharing government, there has been an interesting development today in the local civil service. A senior civil servant within the Northern Ireland Office has been appointed apparently with task of seeing how gay marriage equality law can be introduced into the region.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where gay marriage is not legal. The Democratic Unionist party, which has an influential evangelical Christian base, has used a veto power aimed at protecting minority rights in the province to shoot down attempts to introduce gay marriage equality when the Stormont assembly was up and running.

Now that the regional parliament is in suspended animation, gay rights campaigners have challenged central government in London to impose LGBT marriage equality. Love Equality - the coalition of gay rights groups, human rights organisations and trade unions - has welcomed the appointment of the civil servant to oversee a possible change in policy.

John O’Doherty, director of the Rainbow Project, said today:

The secretary of state [Karen Bradley] should now make clear her intentions to the Northern Ireland public, including the many same sex couples trying to plan their future.

The Love Equality campaign looks forward to an early meeting with the secretary of state to discuss how best to bring Northern Ireland into line with the other jurisdictions in these islands with the legal recognition the right of same sex couples to marry.

Ultimately, marriage equality must and will become a reality in Northern Ireland. In the absence of an assembly and executive, the responsibility for undoing marriage discrimination in Northern Ireland falls to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. We hope she will choose to be an ally to LGBT people, their friends, family members and the overwhelming majority of people here who wish to live in an equal society.

Pity the ‘hostesses’ at this revolting gropefest dressed up as a charity do | Suzanne Moore

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And here is an excerpt.

Nothing is going to stop these wealthy ferals behaving badly, but let this not be done in the name of charity. Let it not be done by our public representatives or by CEOs who boast of getting more women in the boardroom.

And if you want a good cause, here’s one: equality for women. Indeed one might have thought, post-Weinstein, that getting your penis out in front of a student at a fundraising dinner is not the wisest of moves. But the gentlemen’s agreement that it somehow is has been busted. The cover is blown, to reveal that the top of society looks like a bunch of lowlife men who reinforce each other’s scummy behaviour. This isn’t about a few men, though. An entire structure enables this – one that turns giving to charity into a circle jerk over the bodies of young women.

Disgust alone is not enough to dismantle this system. But it is sure as hell a good place to start. That and yes, strengthening our equalities legislation. These men celebrated as “winners” as they flash their cash look today like pathetic losers. Good. They cannot buy their way out of that.

Just caught up with Jess Phillips a few minutes after the conclusion of her urgent question on the “men only” Presidents Club dinner. The Labour MP said she was going to press for more disclosure from government and start asking parliamentary questions in an effort to establish which ministers have attended the controversial event in previous years. Nadhim Zahawi, the children’s minister, was present last night although he has said “I didn’t stay long”. But the Labour backbencher is determined to see if there is more to be disclosed.

Opposition MPs have called for the resignation of Nadhim Zahawi, the children’s minister, after it emerged that he was present at the men-only Presidents Club charity dinner where female staff were allegedly sexually harassed. They spoke out during a Commons urgent question (UQ) on the event. Zahawi attended the event last week - “briefly”, according to Number 10. According to Newsnight last night, he also attended a previous Presidents Club dinner, but that was before he became an MP in 2010 and the event then was said to be very different. During the UQ Labour’s Sarah Jones said:

If it transpires that the minister did not report his concerns and that he was there on previous occasions it is absolutely surely obvious that he needs to resign - our women are too important, our young girls are too important to get this kind of message from our leaders and to think that it’s acceptable.

Labour’s Helen Goodman said:

Will [the minister] take away the message from this House that we do not have confidence in the minister for children and who is meant to be in charge of child protection?

Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, did not go quite that far, but she did say Zahawi’s presence at the event should be investigated. She said:

His department is responsible for safeguarding millions of children and caring for thousands of victims of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and for tackling sexual harassment and violence in our schools, for colleges, for universities and for educating another generation of both girls and boys. Isn’t it time that they started leading by example?

Anne Milton, the education minister responding to the UQ, said Zahawi had “found the event extremely uncomfortable” and had left early. She said:

I have spoken to my fellow minister in the department, he didn’t stay at the event long and I know that he found the event extremely uncomfortable. He left and he was truly shocked by the reports that have emerged.

When it was put to her that Zahawi, who was not in the chamber for the UQ, had not reported what went on, Milton said he had reported it to her that morning (ie, after the story appeared in the FT.)

Zahawi has said he will never attend a men-only function ever again and that he considers what is reported to have happened at the event “truly shocking”. (See 1.49pm.)

Milton told MPs that David Meller, a joint chairman of the Presidents Club, had resigned as a director of the Department for Education and as chair of Apprenticeship Delivery Board in the light of the scandal. She said as a DfE board member he was expected to adhere to the code of conduct for board members of public bodies which required them to follow the seven principles of public life

Milton and MPs from all sides of the Commons described the behaviour exposed by the FT investigation as totally unacceptable. Milton said.

I thought things had changed and it is absolutely clear that it hasn’t changed. I think there is an association between rich, wealthy people and this sort of behaviour. We have to send a clear message that this is unacceptable.

And Jess Phillips, the Labour MP who tabled the UQ, said:

What happened is that women were bought as bait for men who were rich men, not a mile from where we stand, as if that is an acceptable behaviour - it is totally unacceptable.

Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman said that reports of the Presidents Club event were “appalling” and that women clearly felt threatened there.

“It’s a gross example of sexual harassment under this organisation’s umbrella,” the spokesman said. He went on:

Clearly there were different parts of the evening but we need to know more about what took place there and if necessary that should be looked at by the Charity Commission. People who attended need to give an account of what they were present for and how they reacted.

Labour donor Lord Mendelsohn was present at the event as a representative of one of the charities, Labour said. “He was only present for part of the dinner and wasn’t aware of any of this behaviour, he completely condemns it,” Corbyn’s spokesman said.

Zahawi says he will never attend men-only functions again after 'shocking' charity dinner reports

Nadhim Zahawi, the education minister facing calls for his resignation over his attendance at the Presidents Club dinner, has used Twitter to say he is shocked by what he has read about what happened and that he will never attend a men-only function every again.

Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi)

I do unequivocally condemn this behaviour. The report is truly shocking. I will never attend a men only function ever.

David Walliams, the comedian who hosted the Presidents Club event, has tweeted about the story. He says he did not witness any of the sexual harassment that reportedly occurred.

David Walliams (@davidwalliams)

1) Last Thursday night I hosted the Presidents Club annual charity fundraiser. I agreed to host as it is one of the biggest charity fund raising events of the year. I was there in a strictly professional capacity and not as a guest.